New progress in traditional Chinese medicine fermentation research | New strains of traditional Chinese medicine, new fermentation processes, and new fermentation equipment ....

The key technology core of fermenting traditional Chinese medicine is to screen excellent fermentation strains. There are many types of microorganisms, and the enzyme systems produced after metabolism are different, as well as the material basis of their metabolism.

Not all strains of bacteria are suitable for fermentation. For example, in the traditional fermentation process of fermented soybean paste, natural bacteria are generally selected, and endophytic fungi may produce certain anti-cancer ingredients through fermentation, which poses a certain safety hazard to the processing of medicinal pieces.

Therefore, suitable fermentation strains can be selected according to different traditional Chinese medicines, in order to enhance the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine after fermentation, improve the effective analytical yield, reduce toxicity and adverse reactions, and produce new active ingredients.

The commonly used strains for traditional Chinese medicine fermentation include yeast, lactic acid bacteria, Monascus, Aspergillus niger, Ganoderma lucidum, Cordyceps, Poria cocos and other medicinal bacteria. Screening suitable fermentation strains or composite strains has an important impact on traditional Chinese medicine fermentation.

Just as Huangqi fermentation often uses single strains such as probiotics, medicinal fungi, molds, and streptococci, the use of composite strains is more conducive to the conversion of effective ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine

The conditions for fermentation of traditional Chinese medicine mainly include bacterial strains, substrates, reaction temperature, pH value, and fermentation time. The suitable conditions for fermentation of different bacterial strains are different, and further investigation and optimization of the process are needed.

The best strain for Huangqi fermentation was selected from a large number of probiotics that can be used as both medicine and food, such as Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus fermentum, Streptococcus thermophilus, Bacillus subtilis, Penicillium cicada, Monascus purpureus, Aspergillus niger, Cordyceps militaris, Sophora flavescens, etc. The final strain for Huangqi fermentation was determined to be Bacillus subtilis subsp. natto.

The optimal process for fermenting Astragalus membranaceus using this bacterium was selected as follows: the addition of Astragalus membranaceus was 13%, the fermentation time was 7 days, the inoculation amount was 3 mL, and the initial pH was 6.50. 

Full component analysis showed that the content of glycosides decreased and the content of active ingredients increased in the fermented Astragalus membranaceus.

The innovation of fermentation equipment: Most of the existing traditional Chinese medicine fermentation is directly fermented in a sealed device after pretreatment and multiple transfers and agitation. 

This fermentation process requires a certain external temperature. However, when the external temperature is insufficient, the fermentation device needs to be appropriately heated to ensure the smooth progress of the fermentation process.

To solve this problem, researchers have invented a drying, crushing, and fermentation integrated design device with a simple and reasonable structure and high space utilization. The attached fermentation bag has a simple structure and low cost. 

During the fermentation process, the length of the bag can be adjusted in a timely manner to adapt to changes in the fermentation process, further improving the production efficiency of traditional Chinese medicine fermentation products.

For the fermentation of high viscosity materials in traditional Chinese medicine, scholars have developed a new type of Chinese medicine fermentation equipment that combines a specific structure of frame type stirring device and a six blade disc turbine type stirring blade. 

The flow guide plate of the fermentation equipment can weaken tangential flow, allowing the materials to be quickly mixed and reducing the probability of vortex phenomenon; The bottom of the tank and the bottom of the mixing frame adopt a conical shape with a slope, which can solve the problem of high viscosity materials gathering at the bottom of the fermentation equipment and reduce material waste.

In order to apply traditional Chinese medicine fermentation technology more effectively in industrial production and solve the problem of slow fermentation efficiency in the concentrated fermentation of a large number of traditional Chinese medicine slices, a device for rapid fermentation of traditional Chinese medicine has been invented. 

By rationalizing the design of the fermentation tank structure, the compaction effect can be increased and the control degree of material particle size can be increased. At the same time, when the material enters the fermentation chamber, a heating belt is fixedly installed on the outer wall of the mixing part of the fermentation chamber.

While heating and stirring the internal materials to improve fermentation efficiency, the overall temperature inside the fermentation tank is also increased, which further affects the degree of material processing by the rolling components; And set up a receiving department to centrally transition the discharge of the rolling components to the mixing bin, to prevent material waste in the fermentation tank.

In addition, the emergence of many new equipment such as fermentation liquid membrane filtration equipment, fermentation liquid membrane concentration equipment, and fermentation Chinese medicine cleaning equipment has provided technical support for the continuous improvement of Chinese medicine fermentation technology